Strike Force Heroes

Strike Force Heroes is a 2D multiplayer shooter in which the player picks from character classes with their own weapons and abilities and levels up their character both through the campaign and online matches against other players. The controls follow classic platformer shooters – movement with the keyboard, aiming and shooting with the mouse – making it accessible even to players who have never played a similar title before and want to jump into the action quickly. The game was released in 2012 by studio Sky9 Games and quickly became one of the most popular Flash action games on portals like Newgrounds and Armor Games.

The key to its success was the combination of simple controls with a fairly deep leveling system that unlocked new weapons, perks, and cosmetic add-ons, giving players a reason to come back for more rewards even after finishing the campaign. Multiplayer modes against other players added a competitive dimension that was missing from many similar Flash shooters of the time, and the humorous, slightly exaggerated visual style of big-headed characters gave the game its own character, instantly recognizable at first glance.

The success of the first installment led to the sequels Strike Force Heroes 2 and 3, which further expanded the mechanic with new classes, weapons, and maps, but it was this 2012 installment that laid the foundation for the whole series and remains one of the most-mentioned Flash shooters of its generation. Short, action-packed rounds made it possible to play for just a few minutes between other obligations, which was another reason the game spread so quickly among players at school and at work.

Why play it: For players looking for a quick 2D shooter with leveling and multiplayer, without needing to install anything extra on their computer.